“If you’ve got a job, hang on to it. Forget about how little you are paid or how you are overworked. Stick your elbows out and make sure that you are not the next one to be laid off. Just remember how many people are looking for work and how few job openings are available, and hang on.” That’s the message offered at a recent Minneapolis forum for people in mid-life transition by the head of the local workforce system. Most of the people who were listening no longer have a job to hang on to.
The forum was sponsored by SHiFT, a community network that I co-founded in 2006 for people in mid-life transition who are seeking meaningful work.. SHiFT meetings have become flooded with dislocated workers. Some of the experienced workers have been laid off three times over the last two years. Others have been working for the same company for 25 or 30 years before being told to clean out their desks or lockers and to leave within hours of receiving the notice.
The pressure on employers to save money through layoffs has exacerbated ageism in the workplace. As usual, the older middle managers with the highest pay are the first to be laid off. Males between the ages of 45 and 54 have been hit harder by the layoffs than any other age group. Often middle managers with kids in college, they are less concerned about finding meaningful work –than about finding any kind of job that will provide some family income and health care coverage.Since the beginning of the recession, December 2007, the employment rate for adult men has dropped to 67%, the lowest since the government began keeping records in 1948. Of the 15.1 million people who are now counted as unemployed, more than a third have been out of work for 27 weeks or more.
Mature workers seeking new employment are often told that they are overqualified. An age 50+ nuclear engineer was told that because he had been unemployed for 22 months his skills were not sufficiently up-to-date to merit an interview. Another engineer was told that degrees he’d earned 20 years ago were “outmoded.”
The huge numbers of job applicants have overwhelmed the Human Resources (HR) departments of employers who are still hiring. Where there typically may have been 100 applicants for a job, there are now 1,000.Human Resource departments have responded by taking all human contact out of the application process. This description from one discouraged SHiFT member tells the tale:
All of the employers now require on-line applications. After I submit an application online, that’s the end of it. Usually, no one acknowledges the application, no one ever calls about an interview, and no one tells me when the job is filled.
One of the worst deterrents to re-employment for workers who have been downsized a few times is the current HR practice of denying references beyond an acknowledgement of period of employment. Data privacy rules are cited as the reason. The prospective employer, however, has no way of hearing about the productivity and performance of the applicant. It is too easy to assume that frequent layoffs suggest poor performance.
Consider the impact of these HR practices on experienced workers. Shell-shocked by the job loss, facing the loss of health insurance because they can’t afford the COBRA payments, they often receive no feedback from the one-way, on-line application process and have no references from prior employers to take to an interview. The impact is loss of self-confidence plus anxiety that affects not only the worker but the current condition and future prospects for his/her family. The impacts of unemployment ripple through the community, and affect the commons. Loss of income adds to the need for various public services while subtracting from the tax returns paid to support these government programs. Older workers who don’t reconnect with the workforce will seek Social Security earlier regardless of their health and capacity for productivity. The Social Security Administration’s annual report, just issued shows double their expected rate of applications for Supplemental Security Income and pension benefits. That spells future disaster — for families, for the government, for the economy, for the social commons. From both a practical and a human development perspective, we need to engage and extend the productivity of every worker. Older workers out of work are spending down their already limited savings. They need an income supplement for pension funds, , which saw a large decline. Equally as important is the fact that people who are doing meaningful work, paid or unpaid, are more healthy and feel better about themselves. We have learned enough about the regeneration of brain cells to know that meaningful work can continue “through the last breath.” What needs to change? Humanizing Human Resources. Ethical guidelines are published for doctors and lawyers. Where are the ethical standards for Human Resource professionals? There should be a response to every job application. There should be written references provided for laid off workers. How else should HR practices be humanized? At SHiFT, we’d like to see nationwide expansion of peer networks that complement the job counseling and placement services of the workforce system. Members provide support for others who are feeling similar anxiety. Speakers tell about their transitions, resources to aid the search, and where there are job openings. In “ShiFTstorms,” members describe their ideas for entrepreneurship and get supportive feedback from the audience. Work Programs. The Obama administration’s record so far on use of the federal stimulus funds to address unemployment has been disappointing. From the workers’ perspective, the state and federal response to the recession has emphasized giving money to failing banks and auto companies. The workforce development centers are just now beefing up their staff to reduce the long waiting time for appointments. In Minnesota, the state is rehiring laid-off construction workers for building roads and other infrastructure but not yet creating new jobs. No funding has yet been approved for the dramatic increase in stipended volunteers approved in the Serve America Act. Contrast this with the scale of new employment programs initiated by President Roosevelt within one month of taking office on March 1, 1933! On March 28, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was signed into law. On April 3, the call went out for the first 25,000 enrollees. By mid-July, 275,000 workers were employed in projects such as reforestation, flood control, and park development at more than 1,300 camps. The participants made $30 a month and sent $25 home, supporting an estimated one million family members.Inaugurating the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1934 to complete major public works projects, Roosevelt described its purpose: “to restore the human spirit.” Backing up that intention, WPA chief Harry Hopkins directed that the work provided should always match the skills and interests of the unemployed. At its peak, three million people were employed by the WPA. They did good work: planting 24 million trees and erecting 4,500 new schools, 2,500 sports stadiums, 130 hospitals, 29,000 bridges, and 150 airports. They also did meaningful work: artists were employed to paint murals in public buildings, sculptors created park and battlefield monuments, actors and musicians were paid to perform for the public.
We need more of this determination to make things better for people that characterized the New Deal. While speaking for the creation of the WPA, the New York Senator Robert Wagner said, “The anciently stated first law of nature is the right to work.” There is much work for us to do, whether as paid workers or as unpaid volunteers and caregivers.Changing the Culture of Capitalism. The American version of capitalism that has been dominant for the last 25 years focuses exclusively on maximizing profits for stockholders. By contrast, the European Union (EU) has adopted “The Sustainability Theory of Capitalism,” which rests on three pillars: financial success, environmental success, and social responsibility. Social responsibility includes commitment to human rights – to people.
In Europe, where you have strong unions, it’s much harder to lay people off. Of all the industrialized countries, the U.S. has the weakest unions. That’s why there are few voices calling for alternatives to layoffs – reduced hours or shared work to spread the impact of job losses. And there are few voices calling for ethical standards for business decisions – opposing business practices that put money on a par with people.
Whether we start with the specifics of HR practices or the big picture of our capitalist culture, it’s time now to both protect and leverage our full range of natural resources – including human resources.